FINDINGS: The six articles that met criteria revealed quick and easy CC access with rapid flow rates and resuscitation times in both humans and in animal models using either fluids or blood products. Only one article revealed a complication which was a shaft hematoma that resolved spontaneously over a period of a few days.

DISCUSSION/IMPACT/RECOMMENDATIONS: Systemic vascular access and resuscitation via the CC could be considered as a safe and effective alternative if more traditional techniques fail in an appropriate pre-hospital hypovolemic male casualty (i.e., no genital or pelvic trauma that could interfere with the technique). If further studies are conducted and the technique more robustly validated it could be considered as a possible addition to pre-hospital treatment protocols such as TCCC. Possible publication bias could have been a limitation of this study.